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IBM HDDs

Discussion in 'PC Hardware' started by Christer, 2003/11/25.

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  1. 2003/11/27
    martinr121 Lifetime Subscription

    martinr121 Inactive

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    Christer: thanks for the response. I used to be paranoid, constantly worried about what could go wrong, but, after finding this site, I just go with the flow, "cause I know that whatever goes wrong, I can fix it, and if I can't, with the help of this board, it will get fixed.

    You have a good day.

    Martin
     
    martinr121,
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  2. 2003/11/27
    JSS3rd Lifetime Subscription

    JSS3rd Geek Member

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    Hi Guys,

    As I mentioned in another post, in another forum, IBM's support is second to none. I had an IBM P72 monitor replaced under warranty several years ago. No questions asked (in the sense that I had to prove that something was wrong), the replacement monitor arrived the following day, the defective monitor was picked up by the carrier, and IBM paid shipping costs both ways.

    Last winter I replaced two WD hard drives under warranty. Again, no hassle ... two-day FedEx delivery, although I think I paid the return costs on the faulty drives.

    I can't speak for other manufacturers, but WD dropped their warranty from three years to one year on all but their SE (8MB cache) models.
     
    JSS3rd,
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  4. 2003/11/27
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    The warranty issue is difficult to overview, every manufacturer has a different policy.

    In general, it seems to be 1 year for 2MB cache drives and 3 years for 8MB cache drives, some with a 120GB limit in addition.

    However, for some brands, information on this is hard to come by on the web and dealers seem to know even less than we do.

    In Sweden, all products have, according to the law, a 2 year manufacturers warranty.

    The first year, it is basically between the dealer and the customer and then the dealer has to negotiate with the manufacturer.
    The first year, it is the dealer who has the obligation to prove that an error/fault IS NOT a warranty issue.

    The second year, it is between the customer and the manufacturer, the dealer is out of it.
    The second year, it is the customer who has the obligation to prove to the manufacturer that an error/fault IS a warranty issue.

    In most cases, the dealer/manufacturer honour the warranty but not many people are aware of the second year.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #23
  5. 2003/11/27
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Well, I had 3 IBM Deskstar 75GXP, 30GB, 7200RMP UATA/100 drives expire in the first 2 years of their life (one even lasted only 6 weeks). I think before I would ever buy another IBM drive for my desktop would be when hell freezes over!

    And to put this in perspective, my system runs of an APC UPS, and the place is cooled (A/C) thoughout the day. System runs 24/7/365 though.... Case temp doesn't exceed 40C/104F during the night, HDD's used to run around 40-50C/104-122F if I remember correctly. Since I started running from my onboard RAID controller about a year ago, the CPU monitoring software doesn't see the drives anymore, so I'm not sure...
     
    Arie,
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  6. 2003/11/30
    maggie

    maggie Inactive

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    maggie,
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  7. 2003/12/01
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    I´ve poked around at Hitachi's site too and found out that the three years warranty starts to tick when the drive was manufactured.
    My 60GXP expires in March 2004 and I bought it in June 2001 which means that it had been fairly quick from where ever it was manufactured to get into my casing.
    It probably could happen that a drive has been on the dealers shelf for a year ...... :( ...... so one has to watch out.

    Other manufacturers have the warranty start ticking on the purchase date.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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  8. 2003/12/01
    Admin.

    Admin. Administrator Administrator Staff

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    I will NEVER send drives that has all kind of personal info on it (including banking). I completely destroy them, and take my loss .
     
    Admin.,
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  9. 2003/12/01
    martinr121 Lifetime Subscription

    martinr121 Inactive

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    Arie, you said:
    Probably the thing to do, though, destroying a drive when it's time for RMA comes could get expensive.

    As these hard drives are magnetic, could you erase a drive by using a large magnet and passing it over and around the drive??

    I know a paper clip magnet erased a bunch of my floppies.

    Possible?

    Martin
     
    martinr121,
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  10. 2003/12/02
    Admin.

    Admin. Administrator Administrator Staff

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    Not worth it, believe me... I'm not in the USA, so even IF I would qualify for RMA, it's cheaper to just order a new drive...

    Like I said, if I have an experiance like that, there's NO way I trus that company again for a LONG time... I vote with my wallet.
     
    Admin.,
    #29
  11. 2003/12/02
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Hi Arie!

    I am considering to buy a 120GB/8MB drive with 3 years warranty instead of a 80GB/2MB drive with 1 year warranty. I don´t need the larger drive and am only considering it to get the 3 years warranty.

    I too live outside the USA and Your comments make me wonder if I am making a decision on false grounds. Can´t I RMA to the swedish representative or at least the european?

    Christer,
    ...... :confused: ...... again
     
    Christer,
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  12. 2003/12/02
    Houston

    Houston Inactive

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    Christer,
    Save test results to file, go to IBM web site to support follow the guides they will ask for test results, and send you a rma # to send the drive back. They will tell what and how to handle it.

    Good luck,
    Houston
     
    Houston,
    #31
  13. 2003/12/02
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Hi Houston!

    I have run the Drive Fitness Test on my current 60GXP and the problem was cured by a Corrupted Sector Repair. It must have been a write error in one single sector since overwriting it with zeros fixed it.
    So, it´s not a current issue that needs to be taken care of now.

    However, if I should need to RMA a drive in the future and have to send it by UPS or any other freighter all the way to the U.S. or anywhere else, then the cost and time loss would be prohibitive.
    It might be wort it, both in terms of cost and time, if I can send it to the swedish representative or possibly the european.

    If Arie is right, then the 3 years warranty and RMA procedure is a marketing trick to prompt people like me to buy larger and more expensive drives than they really need.

    Regards,
    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #32
  14. 2003/12/02
    JSS3rd Lifetime Subscription

    JSS3rd Geek Member

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    Christer ...

    I don't know what the situation is with other HD brands, but WD offers drives in the IDE Caviar SE series in 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, 160, 180, 200, and 250GB sizes. The SATA Caviar SE drives are available in 120, 160, 200, and 250GB.

    All are 7200 RPM, 8MB cache, and carry a 3 year warranty.
     
    JSS3rd,
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  15. 2003/12/03
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

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    I have NO idea. I used to live in a small (but developed) EU country (The Netherlands), but now live in a tiny island nation in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. There are hardly any official channels here (mainly due to the island's size with around 380,000 people). You'll have to check with your supplier.

    For example, I purchassed one of the 2 120GB drives local. If I go to the WD support site, and I check my warranty status it will show No Limited Warranty, meaning:

    Checking, I found that my reseller got the drive from the US (where it will show as still "In Limited Warranty ").

    My other drive I got myself when I was in the US this year.

    So my option would be to contact my reseller here (for the drive I bought locally), but they only give a 1 year warranty.

    Like I said, you'll have to check with your reseller.
     
    Arie,
    #34
  16. 2003/12/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Hi guys,
    thanks for Your comments!

    Jim,

    According to Warranty Policy and Limitations on WDs home page, only the "Bare Drive" has a three years warranty. "Retail Kits" have only a one year warranty. I don´t know exactly what they mean by "Retail Kits" but I would think that it includes cables, brackets and fittings. I wonder if the harddrive in the "Retail Kits" has a one year or a three years warranty?

    However, I believe that WD is probably the only manufacturer who has a three years warranty on smaller drives (<120GB). All manufactureres have the 8MB cache requirement and most of them a 120GB size limit in addition.

    In my case it doesn´t matter because I have read that WD harddrives could work well with a motherboard based on the VIA KT133A and 686B chipsets but there is a high probability that they won´t and I won´t take the chance.

    Arie,

    I had decided to do that but also to check with the general agent.

    Christer
     
    Christer,
    #35
  17. 2003/12/03
    JSS3rd Lifetime Subscription

    JSS3rd Geek Member

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    Christer wrote:
    • "According to Warranty Policy and Limitations on WDs home page, only the "Bare Drive" has a three years warranty. "Retail Kits" have only a one year warranty. I don´t know exactly what they mean by "Retail Kits" but I would think that it includes cables, brackets and fittings. I wonder if the harddrive in the "Retail Kits" has a one year or a three years warranty? "
    That's exactly what they mean by "Retail Kit ", but the rationale behind the warranty length escapes me.
    • "In my case it doesn't matter because I have read that WD harddrives could work well with a motherboard based on the VIA KT133A and 686B chipsets but there is a high probability that they won't... "
    Perhaps I'm just naïve, but I've never heard of a HD that wouldn't work with any mobo/chipset combination. :confused: I don't mean to bust your chops, Christer, but if you can cite references I'd really like to read them.
     
    Last edited: 2003/12/03
    JSS3rd,
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  18. 2003/12/03
    noahdfear

    noahdfear Inactive

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    Just bought a WD 200GB, 7200Rpm, 8 MB cache 'retail kit', 1 year warranty but can extend to 3 for $14.95 (usually $19.95), which I took advantage of.
     
    noahdfear,
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  19. 2003/12/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    Jim,

    Well, I could do that:

    but then I´d better post a link to a Swedish-English dictionary as well ...... :D ......

    It is a web shop that has this caveat on its harddrive page and I´ll translate for Your convenience:

    WD harddisks do not work satisfactory with motherboards that have nForce2-chipset. The problem shows on Western disks with a variation of firmvare-versions and therefore it is not possible to pinpoint any specific model. It can work well in some cases but the risk that it won´t is too high for us to recommend this combination. The above applies to motherboards with VIA KT133A and 686B chipsets as well.

    It seems like a fair share of their customers have had problems with these combinations, enough for them to issue the caveat. This is however the only place I´ve seen it.

    Christer
     
    Last edited: 2003/12/03
    Christer,
    #38
  20. 2003/12/03
    JSS3rd Lifetime Subscription

    JSS3rd Geek Member

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    Your grin :)D) was well called for, Christer, because your second quote made me laugh (literally)! Thank you for the translation, as I stalled out when I reached the fourth word (fungerar), which made it sound as though someone's HD had mushrooms growing in it. :D
     
    JSS3rd,
    #39
  21. 2003/12/03
    Christer

    Christer Geek Member Staff Thread Starter

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    No Jim, that´s the stuff some of the software designers are on ...... :rolleyes: ......

    Christer
     
    Christer,
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